Word Play
by Aruna Hart
Summary: Jack is charged with updating the SGC teams on the latest Presidential order. However, he gets a bit distracted on the way. Takes place before season 7. R&R.


Jack walked down the hall of the SGC unsure of his thoughts. He had just come from General Hammond's office. The President had called a teleconference with the General and the Chiefs of Staff in wake of a recent tragedy involving the double suicide of two military members of SG-6. Unsolicited by Hammond, or any other member of the SGC, the president had realized the need for his involvement in the matter.

Therefore, after a two hour call, Hammond had summoned Jack. As second in command at the base and leader of the flagship team, O'Neill had been informed of the meeting, but not of the nature of the call. The general told the colonel all that had transpired and gave him the command to inform his team and all subsequent SG units. The general would see to the other staff at the mountain.

Still deciding how to proceed, Jack walked silently down the corridor. It was a skill he'd learned in black-ops, and had perfected in his travels through the stargate. It also gave him the advantage when entering Major Carter's lab. It wasn't often that he was able to throw her off balance and he adored her expression when he would suddenly appear by her side.

This wasn't one of those days though. He stopped midway into the room. Sam sat at the table directly in front of him. She was hunched over a yellow lined tablet and several balled up yellow papers rested by her side. More paper balls were scattered on the floor at Carter's feet. She would scribble furiously for a moment, stop and frown, scratch out what was written and begin the process over again.

"Whatcya doin' Carter?" Jack asked.

Startled, Carter jumped nearly tipping over her chair.

'Whoa there!" Jack steadied her. The major looked up at him. Her expression was one mixed with fear, surprise, and confusion.

"Sir!" She unconsciously began to hide the tablet she'd been utilizing. "I was…"she started to think of an excuse, but for some reason her mind had gone blank. Of all times for her to have a blonde moment!

"Was what Carter?" Jack asked suspicion in his voice. Those years of black-ops had really paid off, or was it the years of being a parent? Because right now Carter was acting suspiciously, like a kid trying to hide something from their father, not that he was anything like a father to her. In fact his feelings were quite the opposite… Jack paused, that was a whole other conversation. He needed to get back on thought here.

She still hadn't answered his question so he leaned in. For a moment Sam was sure he was going to kiss her. Both held their breath for a brief second. If one of them didn't move away soon, Sam was sure that the tablet would be the least of her worries.

Jack moved first, temporarily removing her distress, until she saw that he had reached behind her and now was in possession of the tablet. Curse his irresistible eyes, she thought.

Jack looked at the missives Carter had written. None of them made sense. Not that it was unexpected. He'd thought she'd been working on some sort of quantum theory. But this? This was unintelligible. Letters had been strewn together forming words unlike any language he'd ever seen.

"I though Daniel was our resident linguist?" He said holding the tablet up, waving it slightly from side to side with his wrist.

Sam gulped. "It's just a side project I was considering," she mumbled.

"I bet if you asked him reeeaaallll nicely, Daniel'd help decipher this code," the colonel's voice went up a note as he teasingly dragged out the word real.

"NO!" Sam's violent reaction startled him, her too for that matter. It was instinctive.

"Ahhh haaaa!" Jack smiled, sounding like he'd just discovered the cure for every illness on earth.

"Ah ha what, Sir?"

"You don't want Daniel to know about your little linguistics problem," he smirked.

Carter wanted to slap that smirk right off his face. "Really, it's nothing."

"Really?" Jack asked. "Then you won't mind if I ask him what 'Danet' or 'Janiel' means?"

Carter's face was starting to flush. He liked the rush of color to her cheeks, and realizing that her coded words made the color darker he continued.

"What does Cack and Jater mean?" he asked innocently, naming two more of the words that randomly came into his sight from the list he was now holding above his head and out of Carter's reach.

Her face turned crimson, and this time Jack swore he saw tears beginning to pool at the edge of her beautiful blue eyes. He set the tablet down instantly.

"Hey Carter, I didn't mean to upset you." Jack was at a loss. He hadn't meant to make her cry. That was the last thing he ever wanted to do.

"I'm sorry sir," she said managing to pull herself together.

"Don't Carter. I'm the one that should be apologizing. I…"

"It's not you, Sir. Well it sort of is, but that's not why I'm upset. I should have never made that list in the first place. It's just that I heard a couple of SF's in the hall and I started thinking…" She abruptly stopped realizing that she'd said too much.

Jack was ready to kill. Whatever those SF's had said had made Sam upset and no one was allowed to upset HIS Sam. He knew that he shouldn't be thinking like that but it was hard not to when you put your life in the hand of your teammates, trusting them to guard your life.

Sam saw the look on Jack's face. She knew the repercussions of what she was about to say, but she didn't care anymore. She'd finally had enough. Taking a deep breath she began.

"Apparently there is a betting poole here on base. A poole that involves various members of the SG units and them getting together, particularly SG-1."

"But we get together all the time…" Jack stopped when he saw the expression Carter gave him. Suddenly a light bulb went off. "Ohh! You mean _'get together'_ get together!"

His eyebrows raised in a fashion that would make Teal'c jealous. "That's…that's…" he knew that there were rumors circulating about the possibility of him and the Major, but was unaware that there were actually bets about it. Jack knew that he shouldn't be surprised, but he was. He was also confused.

"But what does that have to do with your list?" he questioned.

"Well they were talking about shippers and it got me to thinking."

"Shippers?"

"Oh you know, like Team Jacob and Team Edward." Jack gave her a blank look. "Twilight?" Still no recognition. She thought for a moment. "Homer and Marge". Finally understanding crept over his face.

"It's a list of shippers for SG-1," Sam admitted.

Jack grinned. "So who is Danet?"

"Daniel and Janet," Carter tried keeping a straight face. "Same with Janiel."

"How 'bout we knock out the 'N' and 'E', then they'd be Jail! I always knew Daniel was jail bait."

"Colonel!" Sam was taken aback. He seemed to be slipping into this more easily than she'd thought. This could be fun. "You have to take the first letters of a name and combine them with the last letters of the other person. You can't just drop the letters you want to make random words."

"Aww come on Carter." Jack complained. Then his face brightened. "How about this then," he took the paper and flipped it to a new sheet. He quickly wrote three letters and then handed the tablet to her.

"JAM, whose that?"

"Seriously, Carter?" Jack gave her a look. Suddenly she understood. Her cheeks flushed again.

"I guess that's better than Cack and Jater," she confessed.

"Technically yes, because yours are combinations of last and first names. Mine is solely on a first name basis," he teased.

Sam knew they were treading on dangerous ground, but she couldn't help herself. "Well if its first name basis then it could also be SACK." She replied handing him the tablet, pleased when this time it was his turn to blush.

He took the tablet and scribbled a bit longer than Sam thought necessary.

"How about this?!" he asked with an evil grin.

Sam's mouth fell open; her entire body turned a brilliant shade of red. Then, the meaning of the missive dawned on her. A smile spread across her face.

"President authorized starting immediately. Apparently they've decided that certain exceptions need to be made in the SGC's case, especially in review of SG-6's incident."

"Are you sure?"

"100 percent Hammond has asked me to pass the news to the rest of the SG teams."

"Right now?" Sam asked, a small grin on her face.

"What's on your mind, Major?" Jack replied evilly.

"Oh just a certain bet I'd a few SF's to lose."

Twenty minutes later Daniel entered Sam's lab. The lights were on the door wide open, but Sam was nowhere in sight. 'I'll just leave her a note,' he thought spying a yellow tablet resting on the desk. He picked up a pencil and reached for the paper. His eyes fell on the only words written on the sheet. He couldn't make out its meaning. Where had Sam found this language? It was unlike anything he'd ever seen.

Clearly it was English, but then again clearly it wasn't. Maybe it was some sort of code Sam used to protect her research. Janet might know something about it. He left the room totally forgetting about leaving his note. Daniel was absorbed in trying to understand the message on the tablet.

What could "CACK can now JAM in the SACK" possibly mean?


End file.
